Trip #127 (58) Nothing but New Mexico: McGaffey, Gallup tour, El Moro, Quemado Lake, Pie Town, Datil Well, Monzano Mtn

Trip #127 (58): Nothing but New Mexico: McGaffey, Gallup tour, El Moro, Quemado Lake, Pie Town, Datil Well, Monzano Mtn

 

May 29 - June 5, 2023

Day 1
Memorial Day Monday May 30 - Drove 4 hours to just short of Gallup south to McGaffey Campground on a more perfect day I haven’t seen. 72 degrees, blue skies. New territory, south of Fort Wingate. Winding road to an old logging area, not old, they are still logging, but I guess there was a sawmill here at one time. As always I was in a coma the first day, so we drove around a bit after arriving about 2pm (did a walmart stop in Grants). Found a small but large enough lake for half of the Indian Nation to be out fishing this fine memorial day. No dish, too many trees, actual ponderosas, a nice change. We are at about 7 - 8000 feet. No wildlife but lots of birds. Only a few campers here. Quaking Aspen CG down below had more people but this one was more open so we stayed here.

Day 2
Just as perfect a day as yesterday. Got out for a bike ride to Strawberry Canyon, GREAT trail, wide and not life threatening. Maybe went about 4 miles and found a fire lookout up there we climbed for a peek. Beautiful area.

Day 3
Got a shopping trip in for Gallup while he did errands. Lots of fun, needed more time. Spent a bit of time talking to Thelma at Malone Trading, she is his daughter and she makes native rug designs in quilting. They were awesome. Drove south from Gallup to Zuni land to El Moro, with a stop at another trading post, forget the name but also very nice. Got the second to last spot and jammed it in. Park not open today so will tour the etchings tomorrow. Instead we drove around the area as we always do. Did we pick up a nail then?

Day 4
Drove back out and over to Quemado Lake, this was a Thursday, and our neighbor let me know we just received the world’s worst hail storm that day at home. Whew, dodged that bullet, but not the plants. They took a shredding. Took a spot up nigh at the lake, no one else there except for the group area. After setting up Bill noticed we had a rear flat tire! And then he changed it. Whew again.

Day 5
Got the bikes out for a road ride which was real nice. Went about 4 miles out and then back. Took a hike toward the overlook but didn’t go all the way. Later went fishing, got nuttin.

Day 6
Pie Town! Had lunch and pie, and went to the new antique store they opened. Out of the blue, a Tiffany Daffodil lamp marked down to $85. Sold! Camped at Datil Well, nice place. Fell for the hype and went to Eagle Lodge for the famous ribeye. Well, not exactly all that but we had a good laugh, when the toast came…

Day 7
Monzano Mountains, with a stop in Mountain Air after touring the last of the missions, can’t remember the name. Also saw the weird hotel in Mountainair. Checked off several boxes this trip.

Day 8
Headed home thru Alb. Saw a side of the mountains down there that we had never seen before, might be worth another trip.

(NOTE: Found this copy on my phone, just pasting in, to lazy to compare notes)

Arrived later in the day 3 PM to Almaro and managed to get the very last handicapped spot and we actually fit. There was a dead roach outside I considered leaving instantly. I hope that fell out of the previous peoples trailer. It was super windy but in the low 70s in the park was closed that day so after dinner we drove around to get the 2 mile radius lay of the land. Found a campground up the road ahead and feed store that we did not visit and ventured into the neighbors ranch land only to turn around. No biking just a short walk to the info board. Like most of these campgrounds they had one bar of phone service

Thursday Friday just a one nighter

Drove back west out of El Morro and turned south for Quemado lake. I love that Zuni area. Continued south through fence Lake until we hit tomorrow and then once again continues south another 10 miles to the campground. It was a perfect and beautiful 70° sunny day with love the clouds when I get a text from Sherry that we were getting a free kale storm back at home. There were many camping options at the lake but I opted for being up on the hill where once again we got one bar but we could surf with it. Not a fancy place, a forest service campgrounds so the rocky roads are very dusty since we were the only ones up there other than the group area of traffic so we own the place. As soon as we parked Bill found out he had a flat tire so the rest of the afternoon was spent changing that big giant truck tire which went smoothly I supervised. Celebrated with a margarita and stayed in after having dinner

Friday

For some reason I had a terrible night sleep, just was awake from 2 to 5 warning came too soon. Bill went out to scope out the biking while I showered to go get sweaty again oh well. Drove the bikes down the road to Lake level and rode a trail which ended up stopping at a private property gate we probably rode one and a half miles there. Decided to continue down the road very beautiful country fortunately no cars there to kick up dust saw all the Mini Boondocking possibilities and even though it's a Friday things were somewhat quiet. Wrote a total of 8.75 miles now it was time to hike so he hit toward the lake overlook but didn't go all the way up turn back after meandering at the ridge top. And now it's time to go fishing lake is bigger than I thought so we cross the dam once again to fish on the shady side with the wind blasting toward us. After several tests he gave up but I did see one fish roll just to torture us and he was very red orange.

Sat - just have a short drive to past Pine pie town today so I took our time leaving shell also took a trail off the campground which headed down toward the lake. A trail that we didn't even know about because we never walk to the campground. There's one other one I'll save it for next time. Another perfect beautiful day as we drove back to Quemado once again and witnessed the fantastic yard sale that happens up and down Main Street. Didn't look like anything I needed to pace so we kept doing we hit part of town around noon with just a few cars out front. Place is looking good with the new owners and Bill had a whole mini pie of berries and I had a delicious quiche with a side salad of fresh greens very very good. As we were finishing up the employee whatever she was told us to be sure to check out the in store next door as she pointed out the window. So as Bill checked out the next campground, I wandered over trying to find which shit building was the antique store, a sign out front helped but barely. It's an old rickety shed house with no electric or heat or anything though the lady in it wish you're happy to be in there as we chatted away. I noticed Tiffany lamp on the counter and next I noticed the price tag at $85 and pretty much that was a done deal. Because she has no electric I had to go back next-door to the restaurant to pay and by then it was freaking wall-to-wall and the place was packed I had to wait for someone to run the register it's like being at the whistle stop Café. So that being done we drove a short distance to day till well once again napping what are the greatest spots here we're in the back it's a huge sight. We didn't like it at first and drove around three times until we came back and made it work. once again no real good bike trails or anything so hung out and decided to go to the Eagle guest ranch steakhouse for dinner because of the great reviews online. Even 4.5 stars so we did a pre-drive to check it out since it's in a gas station and convenience store has people joked in their reviews. It looked passable so we thought we'd try it later. And we did. Bacon wrapped ribeye $28. It was ok...

FYI – Larry on wait list for lungs. Scrabble coasters. Plants growing like MAD.
 

Trip #126 (57): Completely Colorado In May: Sand Dunes, Fruita/Grand Junction, Ridgway and Biking

Trip #126 (57): Completely Colorado in May: Sand Dunes, Fruita/Grand Junction, Ridgway and Biking

Left Santa Fe Sat May 6 and went straight to San Dunes for 2 nights (#73). Smaller site so it took some major jamming to fit, like, removing the fire ring so those extra 3 inches of height cold pass over it, and with a sideways truck we fit. But of course the first day was the usual hurricane winds. The second day was much nicer tho overcast in the afternoon, temps mid 60s. Two nights here, got in the sandy bike ride (could only go about 2 miles, being constantly stuck in sand), the overlook hike, left my little hummer feeder in the tree (stupid), watched families set up tents and leave the next day (how do they do it), rode bikes to cross the flowing Mosca River but never made it up a dune (been there done that), went to the temporary visitor center which wasn't too bad, got ice cream at the camp store in our loop. And as is the norm lately, another plumbing problem: shower isn't getting the full hot water. To be continued. And unlike the norm, I am going to be early, somehwere between

altitude and actually being tired! Colorado has that affect on me.

Next stop after a 5-hour drive was Fruita/Grand Junction at the James Ross State Park, one of 5 parks which gets confusing when the truck GPS map goes out after being stuck in a canyon of Black Canyon of the Gunnison crawling for construction. That never happened before. Fortunately it fixed itself once we got here, but not when we stopped and tried in Montrose. Anyway, great park location, as in sandwiched between the Colorado Monument and the little town of Fuita, with all manner of STORES and FAST FOOD across the street: You name it: DQ, taco bell, McD, wendys, Einstein bagels, a mexican restaurant, Qdoba and much much more, including a City Market and True Value 1/4 mile away. And yet it doesn't feel crowded here. Low 70s here. Nice and neat campground, lots of trees and weeds, I see the guy spraying them now. It has a lake as well as the Colorado River AND some of the best bike trails ever seen: paved with concrete going in both directions. Might try McInnis canyon today instead of the monument, which we've done before,

So Day 1 here, what was left of it anyway, was a trip to Home Depot for the shower cartridge replacement, hoping to fix the hot water problem. And well, if we are going down into Grand Junction, might as well visit the Hobby Lobby and then have dinner at the Tequila's! Good call. Since Bill ordered a second, plumbing will wait until tomorrow.

Day 2, out on bikes. Rode as far as we could to the west, where the trail was closed at Loma due to high river water. So then we went East, toward GJ, until the trail was closed that way. geez. Lots of good snow melt making the river high. All in all we rode 24 miles. Good time for a lukewarm, afternoon shower, then headed out to a wine tasting at Two Rivers, 6 miles from camp. Not bad, ok not great either, but took home one bottle of Tulip rose and all the little tasting cups! hahahaa good size. So once buzzed on wine, why not drive into the Monument to the visitor center? That two-lane, cliff-side road with no guard rails... Got some info, finding out there is not really any biking there for us, which is why McInnis might be on the schedule instead. Also checked out Dinosaur Hill, where a paleo found a dino in 1911, a 70-foot something-a-saur. Nice evening, so after dinner walked up to DQ as our reward for biking so much, yeah we are dumb. and seriously, my vanilla milkshake wasn't really that good why do I keep ordering from DQ? (should have gone to Wendy's :)... ugh. oh well, I did sleep well. And Bill didn't go wrong with a Blizzard... Might be some rain coming in on Thursday, so we need to enjoy our last Day 3 here tomorrow. Probably be driving in rain to Ridgway.

Day 3